John Francis

John Francis (Cape May, New Jersey) is known the world over as the Planetwalker. In 1971, Francis witnessed an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The effects of the spill compelled him to stop using motorized vehicles. Several months later, to end the arguments he found himself getting into about the power of one person’s actions, he took a vow of silence. His non-motorized lifestyle lasted 22 years and his silence 17.

During that time, Francis walked across the United States, earning a BA at Southern Oregon State College, an MS in environmental studies at the University of Montana and a PhD in the Nelson Institute’s land resources program. After graduation Francis wrote oil spill regulations for the U.S. Coast Guard for a year, but was then drawn back to travel, sailing and walking through the Caribbean and the length of South America as a goodwill ambassador to the World’s Grassroots Communities for the United Nations Environment Program.

In 2011 he was back on the UW–Madison campus, serving as a visiting associate professor of environmental studies. In 2020 Francis ran for the U.S. Congress and is currently an ethics adviser for STAR-TIDES (Sharing To Accelerate Research — Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support), a global knowledge-sharing network focused on building sustainable resilience, supporting community and individual resilience to natural and manmade disasters, coordinated through the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC) at the George Mason University.

He is also an education fellow at the National Geographic Society and the author of Planetwalker and The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World. Speaking internationally on sustainability and environmental justice, his illustrated children’s book, Human Kindness: True Stories of Compassion and Generosity that Changed the World, was published in September 2022.